Friday, February 24, 2006

Eau La La, Gallery Hotel

This was a bit of a letdown. Excited by the thought that this place (76 Robertson Quay #01-12, 6887-6668) was owned by the same folks that own Cantina and run by a Moroccan chef, we made our way down here tonight. I went straight for the Moroccan food, starting with the harira. The taste wasn't bad, but I was rather shocked to find tube-shaped pasta sitting inside too (huh? Is this because Cantina is Italian?). Then I moved to the chicken tagine, which although finally served in an actual tagine this time, still did not invoke memories of Morocco for me. It was almost more like a local curry stew with potatoes. I would have preferred a much stronger taste of preserved lemons and olives in this.

Perhaps the reason for these confusing tastes is because this place features all sorts Mediterranean cuisines, including Spanish, Italian, and others, all noted with little country flags on the menu. (They even had Cantina's linguini al granchio, but it was cooked with way too much garlic here.) And even though I normally shun such identity-crisis places, it's not often that we get Moroccan chefs out here, so I guess I was hoping that that would help focus things. Alas, I was let down, leaving me with a rather unsatisfied feeling upon departure.

Well, the food could have been worse; in fact, these were decently tasty and could stand up well on their own, had I not known anything better. And I did notice paella and kebabs on the menu, so I do plan to come back to try those given my lack of success in trying to obtain good renditions of these locally thus far. But I won't be getting cravings for that harira or tagine.